Plastic Facts

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Plastic facts:

Price and the future

One of the great appeals of plastics has been their low price, as compared to other materials. However, in recent years the cost of plastics has been rising dramatically. The cause of the increase is the sharply rising cost of petroleum, the raw material that is chemically altered to form commercial plastics. As the cost of plastic hinges on the cost of petroleum, as petroleum prices continues to rise, so will the cost of plastic. In 2004, the higher price of plastic drove a number of plastic toy manufacturers out of business.

Fears of dwindling petroleum supplies are becoming very real, with publications such as USA Today reporting that current oil reserves will only last 40 years. Alternate reserves such as oil shale and tar oil (tar sand) do exist, but the cost of production is much higher than with current sources. Thus, even if alternative sources are used, costs will continue to rise.

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